Director: Chris Sanders
Year: 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Witchcraft
Plot:
Looking for a new story, journalists from a floundering paranormal magazine are sent to the United Kingdom to look into a series of allegations about something happening in a haunted woodland area, eventually finding the cause to be a witch’s curse coming back to haunt the locals.
Review:
Overall, this was a really strong and likable indie effort. One of the better features of this one is its immensely fun setup, which grows more engaging as it goes along, introducing a string of solid genre material. The initial idea of the series of couples getting lost in the local woods and coming across the residents inside, being a coven of witches looking to secure payment against the descendants of the man who abused them centuries earlier, becomes a lot of fun as this manages to unravel a slew of solid ideas throughout here. The different investigations and conversations looking into the history of the area, the strange beliefs and superstitions that are in place from the locals who are trying to get them away from the woods and the concept of the witch’s curse helps keep this one going along, and with the couple managing to do the whole thing as research for a magazine article serving as a fine motivating factor for keeping them as weird events unfold around them, makes the film come together rather nicely.
With this setup coming together rather nicely, the different interactions here featuring the coven members coming together to keep the woods clear of anyone who comes to visit are handled rather well. The opening setup with the couple coming upon the jar in the woods on their hike before finding the hooded members of the coven emerge out of nowhere to attack them is a solid opening, while a massive massacre of hikers camping out in the woods in the middle of the night is a great touch with plenty of bloodshed and carnage on the unsuspecting victims. This is all a fun starting point for the exploits of the witch’s curse coming back to haunt them through the interactions involving her children with the others around the village or trying to tempt the main couple into joining them, becoming fun enough to be a solid lead into the finale where attempt at exorcising the witch’s spirit leads to some great bits of cheese trying to clear everything up which gives this a lot to like.
There are a few minor drawbacks to this one. The biggest issue is a series of pacing issues brought about by these constant interruptions to the film’s main storyline, to go back to the magazine boss being intimidated by a series of thugs looking to collect payment on the failing business. The idea itself is a bit hard to understand, with the need for personal visits to occur in such rapid succession on something so minor an infraction as a failing magazine, and to then go through the few cases where they interrupt the flow of the narrative to introduce these interactions that are quite unnecessary in the film as a whole. Moreover, a twist about the real purpose behind these visits being a secret motivation for keeping the occult as an introductory feature for others makes little sense, for it to be included when it’s barely featured and could’ve been explored more than it is here, and alongside some instances involving the low-budget limitations coming into play, are what hold this down.
Overview: ****/5
A generally effective and likable indie folk horror effort, this one makes for a lot of solid positive points and not too many detrimental negatives, which manage to hold it up incredibly well. Those with an interest in this style of indie genre fare, who have an interest in this one, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like, while most others might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment